Goose
Well-known Member
A few days ago, my wife used this 60 gallon sprayer I built for real for the first time.
The area she maintains as our house yard is a bit over two acres. According to the chart that came with the sprayer nozzles, at a ground speed of 3 ? mph the sprayer would put down 25 gallons per acre. I verified the gear and throttle setting on the garden tractor with a portable GPS to produce a ground speed of 3 ? mph, then did a test run with clear water.
When my wife sprayed for real, one 60 gallon load came out exactly even. It took her less than an hour to do what previously would have taken several hours and several reloads with her old 25 gallon sprayer.
It was not without bugs, however. The 3.8 gpm 12 volt pump draws a few more amps than the charging system on the tractor puts out. The pump ran fine through the whole process, but when my wife was done and parked it, the battery was drawn down to where the tractor wouldn?t restart. A temporary fix was I mounted a spare garden tractor battery on the sprayer and wired it in parallel with the battery on the tractor. The battery will still draw down, but it will take longer. I?d like to use a bit bigger tractor without a deck to pull it. Then I could run a car sized alternator off of the deck drive pulley.
Also, it?s become obvious the hinges in the booms aren?t quite hefty enough. I can easily cut these out and replace them with heavier ones. And, I?d like to put a manifold on it so you could shut the nozzles off on either side for spraying the driveway ditches, etc.
It?s been a learning experience, particularly considering the whole thing started when I bought the bare tank for $10 on an auction with no idea of what I?d do with it.
The area she maintains as our house yard is a bit over two acres. According to the chart that came with the sprayer nozzles, at a ground speed of 3 ? mph the sprayer would put down 25 gallons per acre. I verified the gear and throttle setting on the garden tractor with a portable GPS to produce a ground speed of 3 ? mph, then did a test run with clear water.
When my wife sprayed for real, one 60 gallon load came out exactly even. It took her less than an hour to do what previously would have taken several hours and several reloads with her old 25 gallon sprayer.
It was not without bugs, however. The 3.8 gpm 12 volt pump draws a few more amps than the charging system on the tractor puts out. The pump ran fine through the whole process, but when my wife was done and parked it, the battery was drawn down to where the tractor wouldn?t restart. A temporary fix was I mounted a spare garden tractor battery on the sprayer and wired it in parallel with the battery on the tractor. The battery will still draw down, but it will take longer. I?d like to use a bit bigger tractor without a deck to pull it. Then I could run a car sized alternator off of the deck drive pulley.
Also, it?s become obvious the hinges in the booms aren?t quite hefty enough. I can easily cut these out and replace them with heavier ones. And, I?d like to put a manifold on it so you could shut the nozzles off on either side for spraying the driveway ditches, etc.
It?s been a learning experience, particularly considering the whole thing started when I bought the bare tank for $10 on an auction with no idea of what I?d do with it.
